The situation
A packaging group in Gujarat has just completed the purchase of a smaller corrugated box maker near Nashik. The share purchase agreement was signed six weeks ago, the conditions have been met, and the money moves on a Friday. On Monday morning, two hundred people at the Nashik plant will arrive for their shift. Some will have heard rumours. Customers will call to ask whether prices and delivery terms are changing. The bank will want to know who can sign cheques.
The buyer's managing director wants Monday to be uneventful. That is the right goal. Day One is the day to make sure nothing breaks; changes can come later.
What Day One is for
Day One planning has three aims:
- Continuity. Production runs, orders ship, salaries are paid, suppliers are paid on their usual terms.
- Control. The new owner can see and approve money going out, and nobody can commit the business to something large without the right sign off.
- Clarity. Employees, customers and suppliers hear what has changed and what has not, from the right person, before they hear it from someone else.
Everything else, including process changes, system migrations and restructuring, belongs to the first hundred days and beyond.
Prepare in the weeks before closing
Day One planning should start as soon as the agreement is signed. Between signing and closing, the buyer usually has limited rights to direct the business, so planning happens in parallel and is shared with the seller only where needed. Competition law can restrict how much a buyer influences the target before closing, particularly for direct competitors; your lawyer should confirm what is allowed.
Name a Day One lead on the buyer's side and a counterpart at the target. Agree a short list of items, each with one owner and a time.
The Day One checklist, by area
Legal and corporate
- Board meeting held to record the change of directors, auditors where relevant, and authorised signatories
- Required filings with the Registrar of Companies prepared, with their deadlines noted
- Share certificates or demat transfers completed and statutory registers updated
- Any regulatory notifications that fall due on closing identified by your lawyer
Money and approvals
- Bank mandates changed so that the new signatories are in place and departing ones removed
- A written delegation of authority: who can approve purchase orders, payments, hiring and contracts, and up to what amount
- Payment runs for the coming week reviewed so suppliers are paid as usual
- A cash position for the target, with daily visibility for the first month
People
- An announcement to all employees on Monday morning, in the languages people at the plant actually use, explaining who the new owner is and what stays the same
- Managers briefed on Friday or over the weekend, with a short note of likely questions and agreed answers
- Payroll confirmed for the month, with no change to salary dates
- A named person employees can go to with concerns
Be careful about promises. If you do not yet know whether roles will change, say that decisions will be made carefully and shared directly, and give a rough timeframe. Do not say "nothing will change" if you are not sure.
Customers and suppliers
- Letters or calls to top customers from the existing relationship owner, with the new owner's senior person joining where helpful
- A note to key suppliers confirming that orders, terms and payment schedules continue
- Contracts with change of control clauses checked, and any consents due on closing obtained or in hand
- A single message so sales staff say the same thing
Operations and safety
- Production plan for the first week unchanged unless there is a clear reason
- Licences and consents confirmed as valid in the company's name
- Insurance policies checked and the new owner's interest noted with insurers
- Safety and emergency contacts updated
Systems and data
- Access to the ERP, email and banking portals reviewed, with access for departing people removed
- No system changes on Day One beyond access
- Personal data held by the target, such as employee and customer records, identified, with responsibilities for it under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 assigned to someone in the combined team
What can wait
Combining sales teams, changing suppliers, moving to the buyer's ERP, changing brand, and revising pay structures can all wait for the first hundred days plan. Doing them on Day One adds risk and tells employees the deal is about cutting, whether or not that is the plan.
Limits
A good Day One does not prove the deal will succeed. It only stops avoidable problems. Some things will go wrong: a customer will hear the news from a competitor, a bank will take longer than promised to update mandates. Keep a log of issues raised on Day One and through the first week, with an owner for each, and review it daily.
Where Synerger helps
In Synerger, the integration module holds the Day One plan with each item, its owner, its due time and its status, alongside the first hundred days and year two milestones. Integration playbooks give a starting list that you adapt to the deal. Risks raised on the day can be logged and reported, and the decision log records what was decided and by whom. The judgement about what to say to employees, and how fast to change anything, stays with the people leading the business.
A short checklist
- Day One lead and target counterpart named
- Board meeting, signatories and filings planned
- Bank mandates and delegation of authority ready
- Employee announcement written, managers briefed, payroll confirmed
- Top customers and suppliers contacted by the right people
- Licences, insurance and safety contacts checked
- System access reviewed; no other system changes
- Issue log in place and reviewed daily for the first week
When Day One is behind you, move on to the first hundred days after the deal.